


Flower and Film

by DVWorks



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Clouds, Coran Coran The Gorgeous Man, Coran is allura's uncle, F/M, Flowers, Lance is sassy, Lotura - Freeform, Lotura Big Bang, Lotura Big Bang 2018, Photography AU, allura as a model, allura is an heiress, aquarium tea shop, i'm been wanting to do this for a while, lotor is a photographer, lotor ran away but hasn't explained why yet, lotor's generals form a k-pop group, pastel, photography tips too, so is keef, some plance, some shotor, the paladins formed a photography company lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-21 20:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14293188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DVWorks/pseuds/DVWorks
Summary: Lotor works as an intern for Paladin Photography and works with a mysterious model, Allura. As a photographer, what will it take to be taken beyond the lens for the embrace of a muse?





	Flower and Film

_Delicately like petals of a forgotten Altean lily, she caressed the side of his face,_

_wondering if, at all, that she could tell of who he was, and is, and beyond in all._

==============---==============

Traveling through the forgotten pages of an old fairytale, Lotor found himself lost in the realms of his heritage. Ephemeral and fleeting, misty and cloudy, dreary but dreamy, the shape of the clouds linger around him as he carried a leather burlap bag slung across his arm in the runescape. Where within his bag, two tripods, a protein bar, five types of lens, memory cards, batteries, and of course --- the actual camera itself. He thought about bringing a DSLR, maybe a drone perhaps. The thought of shooting the scene around him as he climbed higher and higher on the crumbling steps of an ancient ruin, amazed him. He found himself at the top, where patches of grass tried to thrive through the cracks of the bricks laid out in the street with more ruins along the way ahead of him.

 _How much further… how much_ longer _…?_ Climbing up the decaying staircase was quite a trek for one thing, but the entire maze of this piece of this ghost civilization was another. Lotor decided to stop and rest on a carved out bench with engravings and little pink flowers surrounding it, where a grand staircase was ahead of him, just mocking him to keep on moving. But Lotor checked his cell and texted his supervisor that he was already on the premises for the photoshoot. His supervisor, Shiro, texted him back that he will arrive at his location. Sighing in relief, Lotor suddenly caught his eye on the engravings on the bench, where he noticed that they were, in fact, runes tracing back to the early days of Altean alchemy.

 _Altean alchemy…_ Lotor stared at the runes in child-like wonder. Getting up from the bench and examining the writing, he felt his fingertips across the blue-gray stone along the grooves and pulled out the camera in his bag and fitted it with a lens to capture the details of the bench.

As Lotor captured his shots, he turned around at the stairs and found a tiny silhouette of a model already in a gown of gossamer at the top of the stairs before him. He pulled the camera away from his violet eyes to look at the ethereal being on the Altean steps, a lovely young woman with smooth chocolate skin and flowing creamlike hair. Her silky dress fluttered in the soft mist and wind as the young photographer stared in more awe, pulling his camera to his eyes again to zoom in closer to the mysterious model. He found through the lens of his camera that she had light cerulean eyes and a dripping golden diadem adorning her forehead, along with long violet earrings. He quickly pressed the button to preserve her beauty before he will have the chance to meet her. But he suddenly stopped himself before his finger pressed the button, where the feeling of pulling the trigger at a fleeting butterfly to capture his shot began to dread him all of a sudden. He slowly pulled the camera down from his face and gingerly gave his query toward the goddess above his eyelashes.

“Ah, h-hello there?” He asked her.

“Lotor!” Shiro walked up behind him with a charming smile, to Lotor’s sudden surprise. “I suppose you already found your model you’re assigned with.”

“Really?” Lotor quickly slid the camera bag into his bag, quite smooth enough to mask his startled state before. “I didn’t realized she was for the shoot here. What is her name if I may ask?” He lowered his camera.

“As part of your internship with Paladin Photography, I asked Allura to stop by here to visit her as part of her heritage. Speaking of which, I haven’t really heard from what you were, myself.” Shiro lifted a heavier tripod bag over his shoulders and walked alongside his intern.

“It’s a bit of long story, actually. However, I can explain the rest of it later after this photo shoot if you need to know.” Lotor chuckled and adjusted the scarf around his neck to the sudden chill in the air. He couldn’t help but look up to the muse above his head though…

“No worries! I bet I can have an interesting cup of coffee with that conversation you’ll spill out later on.” Shiro patted the side of his chest twice with a laugh.

“Please don’t tell me that’s---” Lotor glance but was quickly cut off by the warmest father-like chuckle he had ever heard.

“Well my crew members _do_ call me a ‘space dad’. I _do_ enjoy the father role after all!” He chuckled softly, sending his acquaintance rather more bemused. They reached the top of the ruins, where they passed by a grand mural wall. At the end of that wall, there stood their model for the photo shoot, kneeling near a bed of fuchsia flowers and picking one up to take a soft yet nostalgia look at them. Lotor stopped before following Shiro to meet the young woman. He thought he had seen those flowers before somewhere...a soft memory of a young mother placed a crown of flowers upon his much younger self emerged in his mind. 

“Lotor, this is Allura” Shiro introduced her to him.

“It’s… a grand pleasure to meet you, heiress.” Lotor flashed a soft smile for her, snapping out of his memory in an instant.

“’Tis the same for you as well,” She gave a small graceful grin for him, so fairy-like to his own charm.

“Ah! I forgot about the agenda for today!” Shiro clapped, leading the both of them to look at him suddenly. “The ruins are known to be a little steep and rocky around these parts, so best be careful when trekking around here. Also, you might to carry a few more sets of lens with you. The magazine that hired us wanted to have more ‘airy’ looks of Allura for the apparel line coming out in a few phoebs, so I’ll show you the ropes on getting the right composition of the photos that they request for.”

“It’s not just a simple ‘rules of thirds’, isn’t it?” Lotor lifted his camera to adjust the dials for the light adjustment.

“Exactly, and the filters will have to be made in the lab with Coran to show you how we process the film too. It’s their Altean craftsmanship, after all.”

“Well you wouldn’t really underestimate Coran too.” Allura leaned in near Lotor’s side, peering at the display panel of the camera he was holding, inconveniently at the set of slides where he took photos of her recently. “Wow! Are these your pictures?” She placed her hands on his camera gently, a soft embrace of her fingers over his as he gripped on the camera quickly.

Lotor restrained himself and kept a calmer composure upon Allura’s hands around his precious camera. “Yes, I'm not very well aware of these ruins as well, you see. But the atmosphere was so captivating, I couldn't help but examine the bits and pieces of it all.” He tried to explain but his eyes couldn’t help but be charmed by the color of her eyes lingering on the mechanics of the camera.

“No, no, you’re fine! I really appreciate how well done these shots are!” Allura lifted her hands off of it and his, and gave a small clap for him. “Now, you don’t have to be so polite around me, Lotor.”

“But you're an heiress, I should give you the honor that you---“ Lotor refuted but was cut off by Allura quickly placing a finger over his lips.

“Being told that is like being a princess told in fairytale long ago, Lotor. Being an heiress of my father's company is truly a great deal and I will do my own way to help him out and his endeavors as well. But I find my new roles wherever I go across this galaxy, no matter how much I carry them all on my shoulders.” Allura gave him a sweet look but a tinge of maturity was through all of it. “Speaking of which, you two are carrying a lot for yourselves! Shiro, hand me that bag you have!” Shiro gladly agreed and Lotor soon stared in surprise by her great strength to lift the black velvet bag of tripods over her shoulders, quickly giving him another idea of taking a picture of Allura displaying her strength magnificently in the mountainside.

“Let’s take a detour down this part.” Shiro pointed before the chipped broken part of the mural wall, to reveal a wide meadow with ancient blocks of scripted hieroglyphics and cryptic runes swirling across the rocks, disheveled and covered in moss and tiny violet butterflies and blooms of mountain daisies. They all set down their things on the scattered patches of grass, with Shiro opening up the bag to pull out a short tripod with Lotor adjusting the camera and then Shiro directing Allura with suggestions of how to pose in the meadow landscape they were all lucky with right now. “Allura, I have some flower crowns in another bag so you’ll be wearing each one for each pose.” Shiro instructed with the heiress nodding as she took a wreath of galactic peach roses upon her head.

Lotor held the camera steady, setting the thick millimeter lens on the base of the camera, screwing in securely, and then adjusting the displaying for the new lighting for the shoot. He looked up and found her sitting upon a high rock with the blue markings of ancient language long ago, with her bare legs crossed and exposed but had the silk of her dress taper over then elegantly, where he noticed she lifted both of her arms up to lift her hair up to freeze. It looked as if she was pouring her beautiful cool, creamy hair out, where she tilted her head up to yearn for the rays of soft light. He could have sworn but he couldn’t deny the halo effect that she was blessing him with at this moment. A click, a turn, a snap ---that was all it took to capture her beauty in this forgotten land of fairytales with his measly camera. Several more clicks, several more crowns, several more dresses, and several more places of the vast ruins that laid before the learning intern to be guided by the muse’s direction and aesthetic. All he had to do was to take pictures, not be hindered by the acknowledgement of who he was or where he came from.

He already knew how much further down his own sense of purity was, compared to Allura’s. Lotor couldn’t tell anyone yet of who he truly was yet. The surmounting amount of guilt he had juxtaposed between his enamor for Allura. If only he could continue apologizing, but he was so guilty in taking so many pictures of a muse he never expected to be with. He wanted to learn more about her but did not wish for her to learn more about himself, however. As a photographer, his job was to take pictures of those beautiful, not himself. Not ever, no matter how much crowns of blood carry over his head before her flowers of sanctity. They kept traveling throughout further parts of the ruins, soon finding themselves in a hidden temple where crystals illuminate the corridors plastered with Altean runes and hieroglyphics.

“Are you aware of what these pictures mean to you? Allura beside him, conjured up a query.

“A bit, but what do you see?” He felt curious as he knew enough lore to have a good idea of what their ancestors may have passed down to them.

“Definitely not as clear as the photos you take, Lotor.” She chuckled, rather a hand to cover her lips curling up in a smile. “I like to understand of what they might mean, or so what my father tells me in his bedtime stories for me before I go to sleep. Tales of archers shooting bows with stars for arrows, or that of lions gracefully leaping through the nebulas to roar out waves of light and mist in the eternal fabric of space.”

He looked at her amazingly, and smiled. “I wish to learn of how to tell stories like the Alteans and you as how I try to tell my stories in the pictures I take.”

She looked at him and smiled. “There are those who take and those who create. Whatever you decide, find the way that promotes such good and beauty for this world.”

He chuckled. “Other than life-like renderings? Centuries worth that these structures wrought out from the earth and bring such interesting creatures of imagination to walk across these realms?”

“Now you’re being a little poetical.” She let out a giggle.

“I like to think as a bit opportunistic when it comes to elegant words.” He grinned a little more.

“I see you two are getting along.” Shiro chuckled ahead of them.

“Quite splendidly.” Allura chirped up.

“Yes---quite splendidly.” He looked over her again as she giggled, carrying a bag in her hands while Lotor held his bag as well like a pair of school mates on their way to an ancient academy.

Caves smoothed out in the span of thousands of years carved out the corridors, in the many passageways of the Altean temples. Shiro guided the two along, grabbing each of their hands to climb up one of the trickier nooks and crannies of the vast subterranean. Eventually, at some point, Lotor began to notice something rather peculiar about the writings on the walls, painted in electric blue to interestingly illuminate the pools of pure water and corridors of limestone in their path. Marvelously, they found the source of the electric blue together. A lake stretching out deep beneath the cave had glowing orbs floating like will-o-wisps across the edge of the water. Shiro, Allura, and Lotor all gazed at the beautiful sight as mauve Altean juniberries, with petals streaked with the electric blue.

“How strange.” Shiro commented, bending down near the edge of the water and waving his prosthetic hand slowly near the edge. “I don’t know how to describe it but…there’s this strange energy emanating from this lake…”

“Perhaps, that is the source.” Lotor spoke up, with his head turned to the attention of the polymorphous forms swelling up like bulbs.

“ _Jellyfish?_ My goodness, are my eyes deceiving me?” Allura marveled at the sight of them floating around, diffusing streaks of the electric blue they found previously and now at their humble abode.

“I thought jellyfish were more of a saltwater species. And, I’m not quite sure now, _live more in the ocean_?” Shiro turned to Lotor bemused, but found Lotor in a state of scientific curiosity instead.

Lotor stepped near the water near Shiro and pulled out his camera to carefully document a nearby jellyfish near Shiro’s hand. “You could almost say that the electric blue is a by-product of the jellyfish utilizing a nearby energy source. Perhaps the alchemists here in these ruins long ago used these particular species of jellyfish to use energy to create into their chemical experiments somehow. I’d like to know, but I suppose they also used the jellyfish to create a bioluminescent ink of some kind as well.

Allura stepped near Lotor, gazing at his concentrated sight into the lens of the camera as he explained his hypothesis to Shiro, finding his long hair pulled up in a ponytail being reflected by the light of the cave lake. Smiling, leaving Lotor and Shiro discuss further of what Altean alchemy was more capable of, Allura lifted her dress slightly up, since it was trailing near the edge of the water, with her eyes suddenly trailing to the surprising depth of the water below her, reaching to near fifteen feet due a small population of jellyfish blooming deep, deep, deep down in the cave lake. Lotor turned a half-second away from Shiro from their conversation and stopped in his speech entirely.

“Allura…” Shiro realized what Lotor found.

 _The lighting, of course..._ He gazed at Allura who was mystified by the glowing creatures deep within the cave lake.  “Lotor, grab a lens from my bag and use that to capture the lighting this cave around Allura.” He whispered to him. Lotor nodded and did as he said, stepping away from the both of them and very quietly to capture the moment Allura was creating.

 _There are those who create and those who steal…_ Lotor replaced and fastened the new lens, adjusting the settings, focusing on Allura, who like a water nymph stumbled her way deep within the depths of Hades to gaze upon an alluring wonder of cerulean grotto jellyfish. Her features --- delicate, unwavering except by the water’s glowing reflection across her gossamer dress in the pattern of crystalline wavy matrices. Her eyes of cobalt, now orbs of electric blue.

 

                                                                  ==================

 

The photoshoot was a complete success. Keith, with a cup of coffee and a chair in the office kitchen space, pulled up a magazine with Allura plastered on the front page with an exclusive article describing the experiences of the small photo crew exploring the Altean ruins.

“It was quite a mystery of how they got there. Those jellyfish are really something beyond our universe.” Shiro chuckled as he walked into the kitchen.

“Don’t even get me started on reviewing the compositions.” Keith pointed at Shiro with his mug of joe. “The new guy did something really peculiar with these shots though.”

“What can I say? He has talent.” He grinned quite proudly. “But he has business to attend to, however.”

“What kind of business?” Keith asked Shiro.

Lotor waited early outside of the tea shop, called Eau Chaude, for Shiro and Keith to discuss about the next job at a upcoming fashion show called GalaxyX. From what he was told, their muse was invited to be a model in the event to represent her father's company. Wearing a grey cardigan, a long dark-blue scarf, black jeans, and short suede boots, Lotor decided to walk into the shop. Opening the blue wooden-frame door, where a pair of chimes sprinkled its notes in the tiny lobby for the new customer, Lotor found himself with the receptionist in the surprisingly chic tea shop his photography company picked out.

“Excuse me,” Lotor pulled out his cell to show the alien receptionist. “I’m looking for a reservation arranged by Shiro---“

“Ah! Someone came by today waiting at your table for you!” The receptionist pulled out a thin wooden block from the matrix box wall behind her, handing over it to Lotor. “Take that with you and your table is thirty-two.”

“Thank you so much.” He flashed his charismatic smile, carrying his bag over his shoulder, where the receptionist became swooned by his youthful beauty and charm. He was slightly surprised of how dense of a tea shop it was from the inside, suddenly finding himself walking through a wooden corridor with aquarium tanks full of colorful fish as the walls he passed by, discovering the tea tables hidden behind the water-filled glass walls as a way to construct the private rooms for guests. Suddenly, he found a familiar woman concealed by the ornate aquarium tank wall, taking a sip in an elegant cup of tea and reading through a blog post on her cell. He realized that she was residing in the room he was supposed to be in, as shown on the number printed on the wooden tag he had in his hand. Lotor used the wooden tag, which turned out to be a key, and opened the door to their aquarium-walled tea room.

Walking over to his table, Lotor stopped to find Allura waiting at the table for him. Wearing a floral blouse, mint shorts, and beige high heels, his model looked up to him in surprise. “ _Allura?_ Where’s Shiro and Keith?”

“Lotor!" Her face brightened up. "They said they be running a little late. They said they found some rare lens at a good bargain from the _Unilu_ shop with Coran. I’m hoping they don’t run into any sketchy deals the last time they were with Coran. The last time they did, it ended up with Shiro taking pictures of Keith in drag at a fashion gala in the space mall. Keith looked really good with that galaxy eyeshadow though…” Allura reminisced the jolly memory.

“ _My goodness._ That must have been quite a spectacle.” Lotor chuckled as he took a seat. He found himself less timid around Allura as they chatted in the little tea shop over the course of time before Shiro and Keith will arrive. Allura and Lotor tapped in their choices to drink on the tea shop’s tablet, with the user interface displaying images of treats, parfaits, hors d'oeuvres, sushi, and their own special brew galactic teas on their menu. Carefully carrying the tray of treats and tea, the waiter rested the silver platter on the table for them and closed the door after leaving. Lotor lifted up his cup of dragon jasmine green tea in his hand, watching the flower petals float upon the jade surface of the steaming tea. “Is there a reason why you wanted to be a model, Allura?” he queried her.

“Well my father wanted to found a business for the entertainment industry and wanted me to inherit the company as an heiress and well. After several years of diplomacy and learning to become such a person when I was younger, I decided to find a more peaceful lifestyle than to seek after political ways to inherit my father’s company. So my father founded Juniberry Entertainment after our culture of Altea, in order to advance his work as well as promote the ideals of peace through the arts and sciences across the galaxy. My father is aware of my work as a model, however it doesn’t change my role as a future leader in his company for that matter. Where did you start from, Lotor?”

He looked at her in surprise and quickly elaborated his story. “I was a student for the archaeological field to study further about the history and culture of Altea. It’s both a personal hobby and passion for me to learn about this forgotten past and I was very fascinated that you were the same descendant from this society too. “

“Why photography?” She rested both of her elbows on the table, resting her chin on top of her crossed fingers to listen.

He smiled at the chance to indulge in explaining for her. “Well…The idea of capturing the kairos of a something so ephemeral enchanted me, you see. Just simply taking the composition of something so beautiful and not in your hands allows me to study the reasons and the abstract ideas behind the things I see before me. To display that for all those to see can promote a different ideal, that of peace specifically. To explore those unfamiliar places in the universe has always been a dream of mine and learning that you are Alfor’s daughter truly makes me want to ask your experiences as well.”

She smiled sweetly, stirring two cubes of sugar in her lavender tea. “When I first saw you, I really surprised by your appearance.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…” She softly chuckled. “I noticed your hair is rather splendidly beautiful.” She blushed faintly.

He fingered one of the tendrils of his long white mane, pulling his ponytail in front instead of behind his back. Twisting it around his finger, Lotor felt the handle of his tea cup and took a sweet sip of it. “I suppose it is part of my pride.” He turned around and found a great lionfish swim around in the tank surrounding the two. “We can have many traits to describe our roots, but it is our pride that makes people really look at us.”

“The sense of it, that is.” She chuckled.

 

=================

 

“Five, six, seven, eight!” Ezor cheered out her choreography routine as she flipped in the air on the wide stage, landing on her toes before slipping into the splits upon the black floor, of course with the attention of the cameras zooming in on her. She smiled gallantly and moved her body to the beat of the music made by her, Acxa and Zethrid in their galaxy-known all-girl music group, RaRa. On both sides of where Ezor was on the stage, parallel lifted platform stages rose from the floor, to form as catwalks for Acxa on the right and Zethrid on the left. Smoke poured in as sheet doors revealing the silhouettes of the two ladies were suddenly torn down by their legs breaking the paper-veil barriers, sending more towers of smoke to rise up as they both strut their swagger across the catwalks as they lip-synced with the song. Galran producers and directors guided the various cameras set up to take their glamour shots and the poignant moments in their new single to be released. One camera took a shot where Acxa twirled her head for the camera, where the footage slowed down to capture her bang of violet hair to swirl in the air before she lip-synced the main lyrics of the song. Another camera focused on Zethrid stopping at the end of the catwalk, where she stomped with her dazzling stiletto boots to announce the rapping portion of the song, with the music perfectly syncing up with her emerald lips glittering. Soon backup dancers poured into the stage, where all three of the group members jumped in the front to perform one of the main dances of the song, having the graphic design team work its magic with the mesmerizing visuals behind them, the footage switching back and forth on each individual character in an single aesthetic to work the story of the song, before returning back to the pan of the camera from the floor up to capture all of them dancing in harmony and song.

Break time occurred shortly after their practice, with each of them sipping on their company’s brand of refreshments, where the company Vrepit-Sa Enterprises sponsored RaRa, under their broad umbrella of other companies in their galaxy-wide conglomerate led by their CEO, the most fearsome businesswoman named Haggar, due to after the passing away of the previous head due an accident several vargas prior. Ezor flipped through her cell and looked over to their leader of their group, Acxa. “Hey, any word of what our boss said what to do for the next music video?” She queried her rather serious companion.

“If she wants us to do our music, then it’s fine. Otherwise, I really hope it’s not about Lotor though.” She crossed her arms and grimaced.

“No need to say that bastard’s name out here.” Zethrid crunched her energizing bottle barely half-way full of the refreshment. “It’s bad enough after what happened even if so much time had passed. I’ll be sure to kick him in the balls if he even dares to show his face here.”

“Same here for that long-haired motherfucker.” Ezor crossed her arms to agree with Zethrid.

“We’re really having this conversation?” Acxa opened her arms.

“Not after what happened to her. It’s hard to not think about anything else than her when his name is even mentioned.” Zethrid looked up to Acxa from her seat.

“The whole thing must have been an accident.” Acxa looked away as she quickly retorted.

“You gave your testimony for what happened though. Everyone looked at that bastard even more as an eyesore even when he’s known to be Zarkon’s love child with a world-renowned researcher Honerva, surprisingly. And then even inheriting the company’s head position after being appointed by Zarkon’s right-hand person Haggar in such a ridiculous move, and then he lost his position after Zarkon returned from medical leave.” Ezor elaborated of what happened to Acxa. “Resigning to avoid the media from discussing about?” Ezor squinted her eyes.

 “And then his dad died away shortly after that too.” Zethrid threw her can in the moving robotic trash can zipping around their break room. “That ended up leaving Haggar to usurp the position to handle the rest of the corporation after some companies under Vrepit-Sa bankrupted after Zarkon’s death. There hasn’t been word of who will lead the company especially with the upcoming election for the new head in the company. I heard Sendak wants to take over to company too, knowing how thick-skulled he is.” Zethrid face-palmed at the thought of Sendak running the company, then lifted her hand away. “But we won’t know who will lead until the next deca-phoeb.”

“Let’s be patient and not bring this conversation up again.” Acxa crossed her arms, checking her cell to her Interstellagram, stopping at popular post of a model wearing a flower crown in a mystic mountain-scape with Altean ruins. “Wow, did you guys see this post?” She showed the phone to them, Ezor picking up the cell reluctantly before she zoomed in the picture.

“Oh my goodness, that dress is super cute!” Ezor lit up at the sight of the muse. “Oh! And it’s made by my favorite galaxy brand too! Who is this model?”

“Let me see.” Zethrid extended her hand, where she took a good look as well. “Her makeup is done so well! What lipstick is that? That’s a really nice color.”

“Rogue-rouge?” Acxa joined in.

“Yes! This girl knows exactly the kind of taste I’m looking for!” Zethrid smiled as she handed it back to Acxa.

“Wait a tick!” Ezor snapped her fingers. “Isn’t she an heiress?”

“You’re right! She’s that CEO Alfor’s kid!” Zethrid joined in.

“Our rival company, huh?” She selected the text for the photography company responsible, tapping to the next page to shift to their main page, scrolling through the various pictures of the model posing with various dresses in various locations across the galaxy. “The photography work is really good though…I bet they’re gonna work with our rival music groups, _BadBlade_ and _Rebeler_ , for their music videos too.”

“Damn, we’re gonna have to catch their secrets in secret to relay it back to our design team then.” Ezor pouted.

“Or send someone to spy on them instead of us though.” Zethrid snapped her fingers to point.

“To think she’s Alfor’s kid with such a nice reputation too.” Ezor blurted, catching Acxa’s glare. “Right, right. Perhaps we’ll pass by her or something.”

“Actually,” Acxa lifted her cell to show them. “She might be attending the same fashion show gala we’re attending as well since we’re models too.”

“Oh?” Ezor looked at the information curiously with Zethrid. “That’s convenient. Maybe we can pass by a conversation with her then?” She snickered.

 “She seems like she’s their only model though, out of all of the others they work within their company though. Sure they take shots of the other music groups in Juniberry to work with Paladin Photography. Their studio seems to be pretty busy and successful with this model though. She wasn’t that prominent though to begin with…so…what changed?” Ezor felt her chin. “This all happened within a few vargas?” She looked back to Acxa.

“That is weird. I wonder what business strategy that company Juniberry is trying to promote exactly…” Acxa pondered as well. “There’s not a lot of particular brands to name other than clothing or makeup though.”

“Maybe for tourism? Those places looked pretty exotic to me.” Zethrid suggested.

“Maybe it was out of random luck they got.” Acxa settled on a hypothesis.

“Maybe it seems random enough to be not be random as well.” Ezor added.

“What gives you that idea?” Acxa looked up from her pondering.

“Just a feeling, that’s all. Don’t know what it is though…” She raised her hands up uselessly.

“The quality is really good though…” Acxa complimented. “Very elegant…”

 

=====================

 

“I swear, it doesn’t go that way!” Pidge raised her hand up to grab the broken drone from Lance’s hands in the lounge of their office building.

“Pidge, it’s was just an accident! I didn’t think it was gonna end up in that alien’s face stuffed with space French fries in the space mall though!”

“HE WAS EATING FRENCH FRIES! You don’t bother a decent being chomping down fried gold!” Pidge jumped up again to grab the drone, failing as soon as Lance spun around to try tinkering it.

“I second that with Pidge,” Hunk stood apart from them with his arms crossed. “I can’t believe something like that happened though. Those precious fries, flying through the air after arriving from the fryer from their enduring trials of deep-frying and salting to peacefully land in our mouths to respect their beautiful yet short existence.” Hunk wiped a small tear from his eye, sniffing at the tragedy of the drone collision. “This is why we can’t have nice things, Lance.” He sighed.

“LOOK I WAS TRYING TO ZOOM IN THOSE DELICIOUS FRIES!” Lance quickly tried to dodge from Pidge’s pounces to retrieve the device.

“More like you managed to fuck it all up for the poor alien.” Keith stood next to Hunk, also crossing his arms, shaking his head in his usual disappointment toward Lance.

“OKAY, BADBLADE WANNABE. WHY ARE YOU BACK, _AGAIN_?” Lance shot his glare at Keith, only to be taken down by Pidge pining him down on the ground to finally get the busted drone back.

“Shiro asked me to help out the company for the upcoming photoshoot. I volunteered to model too, which can also help out _BadBlade_ ’s growing rep, despite previous views from their former affiliation with Vrepit-Sa. I used to be a photographer but after my drag experience, I realized I wanted to be a model, so I left. No sorries for anyone, here.” He flipped his hair as he scoffed with sass.

“Well because of that we ended up getting a much bigger emo dude here—OW PIDGE, WHY ARE YOU PINCHING MY EAR?” Lance cried on the floor in pain while Pidge sat on his back, stopping and getting off of him to leave the room with the drone he broke.

“Lance, I’m pretty sure you deserved that.” Pidge tossed a remark behind her at him. “You pressed a button to send a huge ship into space before it disintegrated into a firework of the century.”

“Look!” Lance shot up from the ground. “Vrepit-Sa deserved that especially with scoffing at us when we were still a baby company!”

Shiro walked into the room with Allura and Lotor, passing by Pidge holding the poor drone in her hands, finding Keith and Hunk both staring at Lance in disbelief. “What’s going on here?” Shiro was bemused.

“Lance trying to defend himself from sending a fire-safety-hazard-of-a-firecracker-ship into space.” Keith gave a poker face at Shiro.

“It was beautiful sight, to be honest. But it was very easy to blow up at any time and very quickly too.” Hunk shared the same face as well.

“It is beautiful!” Lance retorted.

“Not as pretty as that drone landing smack-faced into a civilian in the mall, though. I can’t believe we actually have footage of that.” Keith snickered.

“Well that just costed us our equipment and time.” Shiro glared at Lance and then sighed accepting the consequences. “Now that Pidge is back, we can get back on schedule soon.”

“I’ll head over to her and her brother’s workshop to work with the equipment, if you need me.” Hunk exited the lounge and down the hallway.

“I’ll join you.” Keith followed Hunk as well.

Lance glared Keith behind his back and crossed his arms. “So what? I know how to razzle-dazzle the shots for the best views on the internet.”

“Lance!” Coran popped his head at the edge of the doorway. “Help me out with fixing the film in the lab!”

“What! No way! Not in that dark lab! I’ll be stuck in there for hours before I know if the photos even turned out good!”

“Don’t underestimate how well I can concoct the solution fluid to extract those images, Lance! I got a special brand from the _Unilu_ shop to speed up the process!”

“Or keep up there until it’s been exactly ten thousand years later.” Lance sighed as he followed Coran.

“Ah Coran, before you go!” Shiro hurriedly walked up to Coran with a file of papers in his hand. “Here are some things describing the itinerary for the upcoming GalaxyX fashion gala in a few quintants from now. It contains three flight tickets, plus details of the hotel you all will stay at, as well as the VIP clearance passes to represent our company and get backstage for Allura’s moment on the catwalk.”

“Three? Who’s the third one?” Coran looked at Shiro curiously.

“Lotor. I assigned him to be the main photographer from our company for the trip.” Shiro explained nonchalantly.

“Excuse me?” Lotor and Coran both spoke in unison.

“It’s only fitting for an intern to have experience at a fashion gala and also be our most skilled too.

“HOLD ON.” Lance stormed back into the room, tapping his finger on Shiro’s chest. “You’re telling me that this long-haired newbie is going on this incredible trip to an exotic planet, with first-class tickets---“

“Economy, Lance.” Shiro replied.

“ECONOMY, MY ASS. That, and staying at a luxurious hotel---“

“They told us to stay there for security and safety measures.” Shiro again replied

“SECURITY, MY ASS. That, and attending one of the most extravagant parties ever with all of these beautiful alien ladies dressed again, beautifully.” Lance stared incredulously and back to Shiro.

“I assure you Lance, I’m also coming along this trip as well.” Coran spoke up cheerfully.

“Coran, I’m an adult.” Allura tried to nudge him. “Why couldn’t Shiro go?” She looked back at him.

“I’m stuck on another project that’s happening at the same time as the fashion gala. I’m sending Coran along as a backup since I won’t be able to attend on the first day. But luckily, I’ll be able to attend the rest of the festivities with you all. ” Shiro looked at a excel sheet in his cell.

“Well since that’s the case, I don’t mind attending another fancy ball. Gosh, I haven’t been one since Alfor hosted them before meeting your mother, Allura.”

“My father was a party-thrower?” Allura stared blankly at Coran. “I thought he was a closeted inventor.”

“Oh _nooooooooooo_ \---on the contrary! He held them a lot for entrepreneurs to invest in his ideas as well as grow the company. Man I was high right-hand man in those party days, questing to land on our best and biggest client to fund for the company too!” Coran fixed his moustache reminiscing those nostalgic days. “Ah that was a time when Zarkon led the start-up company before parting ways with your father to pursue his own interests. Huh, even with that medical leave, we never knew who the substitute was to lead the company other by the name of Pro-Tem. That company never really said who though, probably since they thought Zarkon would return soon. That must have quite a black spot in their history, mysterious and yet bolstering enough to set the company in new heights though. ” Lotor remained silent as Coran spoke.

He best not to make a prominent appearance at the gala though…he looked over the Allura, who caught his gaze fixated on her, quickly turning her head away in a quick yet soft blush. He treasured that time she visited his flat though…it’s just that, how is he going to find a way to spend time with her in such a wonderful trip with her curious and bizarre space uncle?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little longer from last time but just a small experiment for now!


End file.
